The Internet Archive’s Grateful Dead is a great collection of concert tapes. There are over 2,000 unique concerts. There are multiple recordings of most concerts. This series attempts to provide a simple interface to this collection by selecting one recording for each concert on a given date. Preference is given to tapes processed by the great Charlie Miller and sound board tapes. Not all shows are well recorded but the there are great moments here. Dig in and enjoy! You didn’t have to be there. Good Luck.

The Grateful Dead In The 1970 – From The Hippie Cowboys of 1970 to the Jazz Age

While the core Grateful Dead members (Garcia, Weir, Lesh & Kreutzmann) remain members through out the 1970’s there were several changes in the band line up during this time. PigPen left the band in ill health in 1972. Keith Godchaux joined that same year on key boards (primarily on a concert Grand piano but also on a Hammond B3 organ). His wife Donna joined as a vocalist that same year. Both of the Gordchaux’s left the band in Febuary, 1979. Brent Mydland joined the band as a key board player and vocalist in April 1979). Micky Hart (whose father controversially manager the band for a while) left the band under a cloud in 1971 but later rejoined in 1974. This decade began with signature songs such as Truckin’, Me & My Uncle and Jack Straw. The Grateful Dead Movie (1972) solidified the band’s image in the public mind. Later in the decade the band sound changed considerably. The massive Scarlet Begonias –> Fire On The Mountain –> Estimated Prophet was perfected on stage and redefined the band. The colorful marital discord and unhealthy lifestyle choices of the Godchaux (and Jerry and Bob’s search for a different (more electric and funk oriented) keyboard sound lead to the Godchaux leaving the band and Brent Mydland joining the band in 1979.